Dr Ingalls on the Prairie
by HannahNoel1217
Summary: Albert Quinn Ingalls graduates from medical school and is offered to return to Walnut Grove, Minnesota after Hiram Baker announces his retirement from medicine. Follow his journey through to the 20th century in his new post as the doctor of Walnut Grove with the help of his sister and her family. Who knows, maybe the young doctor will find love in his hometown?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story unless the names are not recognized by history or the television series Little House on the Prairie. I have added some characters for the sake of the story that are either introduced in this chapter or will be in future chapters.**

1899

The stage slowed as it entered the small town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. The town was not the same as Albert Ingalls remembered, but it was still the place he had considered home for seven years of his childhood. When he was seventeen years old his Pa, Charles Ingalls decided to move the family to Burr Oak, Iowa, but Albert always knew he would be returning to Walnut Grove after he graduated from medical school.

Things did not go as initially planned, however. While in Burr Oak, Albert became addicted to a pain killer called morphine and discovered he had a rare blood disorder, which was eventually discovered to be hemophilia. Burr Oak was not a lucky town for Albert. Though he would not be cured, he learned how to manage his disease. After finally graduating from medical school at the age of 25 in 1895 and getting some experience at a small hospital in De Smet, South Dakota where his family had since moved to, he had gotten a letter from Dr. Hiram Baker in Walnut Grove.

Albert reached for his pocket which held the letter he had received a few weeks prior. Dr. Baker, who was well into his 70s now, was more than ready to retire and had asked Albert to come back to Walnut Grove to take his place. This was a position he had gladly accepted. He quickly phoned his adopted sister, Laura Wilder, and she offered him a home with her, her husband, Almanzo, and their twelve year old daughter, Rose. Almanzo's niece, Jenny Wilder, who was now twenty-six years old, had moved to Mansfield, Missouri when she was offered a teaching job a few years earlier. He agreed to live with Laura and Almanzo until he could afford a place of his own.

Though the town was destroyed a few years prior, it had since been built up in the same fashion. The Olesons rebuilt their mercantile across from the schoolhouse and they built the hotel and restaurant in its original spot across from the mercantile. It had since been renamed Nancy's when she took over as owner after completing school. Albert kept in contact with his childhood friend, Willie Oleson over the years. He had gotten married about ten years ago to Rachel Brown and they have had two sons, Jonathan and Richard. Nels and Harriet, Nellie, Willie and Nancy's parents, retired from the family business and gave it over to Willie in 1896 when he needed money to support his growing family.

The stage pulled up to the post office and Albert saw Laura and her family on the front porch waiting to greet him. He smiled from ear to ear. He hadn't seen his sister since he thought he was dying about eight years ago. His family thought he had leukemia back then, but he was diagnosed with a newly realized disease called hemophilia a few weeks after going back to Walnut Grove with Pa where he was supposed to live his final days. Laura didn't look any different. Sure, she had aged some since she was now thirty-two years old, but she was still the same Laura he met in Winoka when he was ten years old.

"Uncle Albert!" Rose waved. Rose Wilder looked like her mother when she was younger with some of Almanzo in her face. Her auburn hair was in two braids, one on each side of her head. The Wilders had moved with Jenny to Mansfield, but decided to move back months later when they realized Walnut Grove was their home. It was where they belonged.

"Hi, Rose!" Albert waved. The stage stopped and Albert opened the door to walk down the steps. The driver of the stage came down from his seat and handed Albert his bags he had brought with him. Rose ran up and gave him a hug, which made him drop the bags he was just handed.

"Welcome home, Dr. Ingalls!" Laura said as she walked forward. The stage pulled away to its next destination after Albert thanked him. Albert hugged his sister. Out of his seven siblings, Laura was the one who he was always closest with. Mary was already out of the house when he met the Ingalls, Carrie, who was only two years younger than he was always seemed to act younger, Freddie had died before he entered the family, Grace was a toddler when he met the family, and James and Cassandra always had each other. Sure he was close with his only living brother, James but he spent most of his childhood having a best friend in his older sister.

"It feels good to be back," Albert responded.

"It's good to have you back," Laura smiled up to him.

Almanzo Wilder walked up to his brother-in-law and shook his hand then grabbed the bags Rose made him drop. Almanzo was now into his forties and had a budding apple orchard on his field. "Let's get you back to the house. You had a long trip and Beth made a pie for tonight." Almanzo walked over to the buckboard waiting next to the post office with two horses hitched up to it.

"I'll be there in a minute, I just want to say hello to Doc Baker first," Albert called, walking toward the side of the post office building which also housed Doctor Baker's office.

"Hurry up, Uncle Albert!" Rose called as she and Laura walked over to Almanzo to get into the wagon. Albert nodded and walked over to the door and knocked, opening the door when he heard someone tell him to come into the room. When the building was rebuilt, they made the doctor's office larger and got rid of the hotel on the upper level. Not many people had stayed there since Nellie's opened all those years ago.

Doctor Hiram Baker was sitting at his desk. Though the building was fairly new Doc Baker decided to keep the format of his office the same. The front of the room housed his desk and telephone as well as chairs for patients to sit. The back was the examination room and curtains divided the two. Doc Baker turned to look at Albert and a smile formed on his face. Doc Baker had aged over the years since Albert had been away. Living in an urban town for so many years and being the only doctor and veterinarian had taken its toll on the man. He was ready to pass the torch onto someone new and energized to learn and treat patients. When he thought about a replacement he knew Albert Ingalls would be the right one for the job. "Why hello there, Albert—or should I say Dr. Ingalls now?"

"Hi, Doc. You can call me Albert," the young doctor laughed. After all the years of wanting to be a doctor, then almost dying and not achieving his goal, he was happy to be standing in his own office with the man he felt was his mentor during his childhood.

 **Hi, all! I haven't written fanfiction in years upon years but I just decided recently while rewatching the Little House series that I wanted to write a fanfiction based upon my favorite nonhistorical character, Albert Quinn Ingalls. He always interested me and I felt that I needed to continue his story since he was not a real person, nor were James and Cassandra Cooper Ingalls.**

 **A few things I wanted to clear up for this story:**

 **-Albert did not die from his blood disorder. I searched the internet and could not find concrete evidence stating he did. I decided he had hemophilia for the state of this story, which explains his nosebleeds**

 **-The blowing up of the town takes place in this story before it did in the series. In the series, it takes place in 1901 but I felt for the sake of the story it needed to be sooner**

 **As I change things from canon for the story I'll add them at the bottom so that will clear things up!**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar.**

Albert talked with Doctor Baker for a few minutes about his new position in Walnut Grove before meeting Almanzo, Laura and Rose at their wagon. These jurisdictions weren't news to Albert. He had spent enough time in Walnut Grove to know that he was to be the only doctor in the town and would have a lot of work on his hands. He was happy, though. This position was something he had dreamed about while his Ma and Pa moved the family away, when he was in medical school, and when he was getting the experience needed for the position.

"Ready to go?" Almanzo asked his brother-in-law, taking the reins of the horses.

Albert climbed into the wagon with Rose, "Ready." Almanzo called to the horses and they began walking down the dirt road toward the Wilder residence. After coming back from Mansfield the Wilders were not able to buy back their old land, so they decided to buy land next to the old Garvey place. After Almanzo's first apple crop, he was able to build a three bedroom home, which allowed the family to have plenty of space to move around.

Albert hated to impose on Laura. Sure he was happy to be back in Walnut Grove, but he needed to find his own place. He knew he wouldn't be there that often due to his work, but he still needed a place to call his own. Albert made a mental note to himself to start looking at available homesteads tomorrow morning before he needed to be at Doc Baker's in the afternoon.

The wagon pulled up to the Wilders after about fifteen minutes. It was all one floor and the wood siding still looked fairly new. Across from the home was a barn for the livestock that the Wilders owned and to hold any of the crops Almanzo had grown before they got sold in towns like Mankato or Minneapolis. Albert grabbed his bags as he jumped from the wagon, and then helped his niece down as well. The air was so crisp in the country. The trees blew in the breeze and the sun shone through the clouds. Albert would always be a country man at heart. He was happy he would now be able to be the doctor of his favorite place.

"Coming, Albert?" Laura called. Albert realized he lost his train of thought and follows her into their home. The home entered into the dining room and kitchen. The table was across from the wood burning fireplace which was the focal point of the room. The kitchen was in the opposite corner of the room with a large black stove. Each of the bedrooms branched off from the main living quarters along with an indoor bathroom.

"Wow," Albert said, "Nice place you've got here, Laura."

"Thanks," Laura responded. She gestured for him to follow her through a room to the right of the fireplace. "This will be your room. Sorry it isn't much but it should be fine."

Albert placed his bags onto the double bed next to the window. There was also a dresser across from the bed with a decent sized mirror on the wall. "This'll be fine. I honestly don't think Doc Baker will let me come home that often until he thinks I can handle taking care of the town."

"I'm sure you'll do great. Walnut Grove is in good hands, Albert," Laura smiled.

"I hope so," Albert sat on the bed, sighing.

Laura looked at her brother. He was supposed to die when he was twenty-one years old and here he was, here and breathing. She hadn't seen him since her Pa and Albert left to find other doctors to treat his medical condition. Soon after that the town was imploded and Albert was accepted into medical school. Then, Jenny had gotten a teaching job and the Wilders decided to follow her to Mansfield. Laura always knew that wasn't the place for her. Rose wanted to go back to her friends and Almanzo's crop was not going as well as it did in Walnut Grove, so the family decided to come back.

She was looking forward to her brother being home, but she didn't know how much of a toll it would take on him to take care of the entire town on his own.

 **Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the last one. I have a final for one of my classes this week and two more exams on top of that, but I wanted to get another chapter posted. Thanks for the support for this story! Please review if you would like another chapter posted sooner rather than later!**


	3. Chapter 3

Albert woke up fairly early to begin looking for a place to call his own. He didn't need to force himself to get out of bed and begin his day. Albert always loved growing up on a farm with livestock and things to do. It was part of the reason why he decided to live out his lifelong dream of becoming a country doctor. He would be on the go day in and day out; being up from sun up to sun down. When he was adopted by the Ingalls all those years ago he realized that he was able to show his knowledge and follow his dreams. If he was still living his old life on the streets of Winoka there was no way he would be able to live the life he was living. For all he knew he could have starved to death years ago the way he was going before the Ingalls showed up.

The young doctor got ready for the day and went out to the main living quarters to find Laura making breakfast for her family. Seeing his sister in the kitchen made him miss his family in South Dakota, but he was happy to be where he was. He always could communicate with his Ma and Pa through letters or the telephone, so it wasn't like he would never speak to them again. "Good morning, Laura," Albert said as he sat down at the table and pour himself coffee from the pot already laid out.

Laura turned around from the stove and smiled, "Good morning!" She finished putting the scrambled eggs she had made onto a plate and placed them on the table. "You're up awfully early."

Albert shrugged, "I can't stay here forever. I have to look for my own place at some point."

"But you just got here. No one is asking you to leave right away." The door to the home opened and Almanzo and Rose entered from doing morning chores in the barn.

"I might as well start looking before Doc Baker leaves and I'm forced to look in the dead of night after I am done for the day." Rose handed Albert a plate and she finished her daily chore to set the table for their meal. Albert was grateful his sister took him in for the time being. Her parents did the same thing for him when he was younger than Rose and didn't bat an eye. Of course, this situation was temporary but he was grateful nonetheless.

After he finished breakfast and helped Laura clean up the meal, Albert decided to walk with Rose into town then walk around neighboring farms and homesteads. Maybe if he walked around long enough he would find something that caught his eye.

 **I'm so sorry this chapter has taken me almost a year to post! Life has been crazy and I didn't forget about this story. I'm going to graduate from nursing school in less than 5 months and I've been focusing all my time studying and preparing for my future. However, I've been thinking about how I want to take this story and I didn't want to post anything until I had a great chapter for you guys! Thanks for reading! The more you review the more it keeps me motivated! Also, I apologize this is so short but I just needed to write something to get me back into the groove of this story!**


End file.
